Opinion + Beecroft report | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/commentisfree+politics/beecroft-report
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Vince Cable should stop signing away workers' rights by the back door | Ian Murrayhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/15/vince-cable-signing-away-workers-rights
Cable wrote off the Beecroft report, but now he's consulting to introduce measures like fire-at-will for micro-businesses<p>Vince Cable likes to proclaim that he acts as a check on his coalition partners' "nasty" tendencies when it comes to all of our rights at work, but he is pushing ahead with the majority of the recommendations in the flawed <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/beecroft-report" title="">Beecroft report</a>, produced by No 10 adviser Adrian Beecroft.</p><p>The business secretary has already been consulting to introduce fire-at-will for micro-businesses and he's bringing forward a number of measures from the controversial report too, through the enterprise and regulatory reform bill currently going through parliament.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/15/vince-cable-signing-away-workers-rights">Continue reading...</a>Vince CablePoliticsBeecroft reportUK newsWork & careersMoneyLawEmployment lawSat, 15 Sep 2012 11:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/15/vince-cable-signing-away-workers-rightsPhotograph: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty ImagesVince Cable is making it easier for employers to push employees out the door with a poorly compensated 'settlement agreement'. Photograph: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty ImagesVince Cable is making it easier for employers to push employees out the door with a poorly compensated 'settlement agreement'. Photograph: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty ImagesIan Murray2012-09-15T11:00:00ZUnthinkable? Leaving employment rights alone | Editorialhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/14/unthinkable-leaving-employment-rights-alone
Vince Cable is cutting compensation purely to placate certain deep right-wing prejudices<p>"The problem of growth is that we have a very serious shortage of demand," <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/sep/09/vince-cable-rebuffs-conservatives-deregulation" title="">said Vince Cable last Sunday</a>, asserting a Keynesian reading of the slump that events are vindicating. He went on to denounce ideologues who seek a solution in cutting what they call red tape – and the rest of us consider rights at work.</p><p>"It's nothing to do with those supply side measures," he said. Five days is a long time in politics, however, and on Friday the same business secretary signalled that <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/law/2012/sep/14/unfair-dismissal-compensation-cap-cut1" title="">the maximum compensation</a> for unfair dismissal would be slashed.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/14/unthinkable-leaving-employment-rights-alone">Continue reading...</a>Vince CableBeecroft reportEconomic policyPoliticsWork & careersEmployee benefitsEmployment tribunalsMoneyUK newsFri, 14 Sep 2012 20:54:54 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/14/unthinkable-leaving-employment-rights-aloneEditorial2012-09-14T20:54:54ZGive these overpaid CEOs asbos (that's Antisocial Business Orders) | Aditya Chakraborttyhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/may/28/give-these-overpaid-ceos-asbos
They give their advice on how to run the country, yet, with their huge pay packages and 'efficient' tax affairs, they're increasingly remote from the rest of us<p>Forget civil servants. Forget academic expertise. Forget irksome consultation and careful study of what happens in other countries. No, today's Downing Street wonk knows just how to sort out any problem of public policy: just add CEO.</p><p>I'm not referring solely to private-equity baron Adrian Beecroft and last week's publication of his 16 pages of under-researched chest-puffery on <a href="http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/employment-matters/docs/r/12-825-report-on-employment-law-beecroft.pdf" title="">how employment regulation should be slashed</a> (actually, let's be fair: take away the gubbins and it's only 13 pages of under-researched chest-puffery). That merely follows on from Mary Portas and her <a href="http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/business-sectors/docs/p/11-1434-portas-review-future-of-high-streets.pdf" title="">government-commissioned proposals on how to revivify Britain's high streets</a>; and from Topshop boss Philip Green and his 2010 report for David Cameron on how to cut waste in Whitehall.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/may/28/give-these-overpaid-ceos-asbos">Continue reading...</a>Public financeBeecroft reportSocietyEconomic policyPoliticsPsychologyScienceSir Philip GreenMary PortasWPPMon, 28 May 2012 19:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/may/28/give-these-overpaid-ceos-asbosPhotograph: Lewis Whyld/PASir Philip Green and David Cameron. The Topshop boss is the prime minister's former efficiency tsar. Photograph: Lewis Whyld/PAPhotograph: Lewis Whyld/PASir Philip Green and David Cameron. The Topshop boss is the prime minister's former efficiency tsar. Photograph: Lewis Whyld/PAAditya Chakrabortty2012-05-28T19:00:00ZBeecroft proposals will boost discrimination, but not productivity | Stefan Sternhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/may/21/beecroft-discrimination-no-fault-dismissal
Removing employment protection with a 'no-fault dismissal' will give us a wild west economy that does little for business<p>You know a manager is losing his or her grip when the basic command "<a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=JFDI" title="">JFDI</a>!" is uttered. (The J, D and I stand for Just Do It.) The <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/may/21/minister-answer-question-no-fault-dismissal?newsfeed=true" title="">Beecroft proposals on removing employment protection</a> with the aim of boosting the economy are the Whitehall equivalent of a JFDI order. Really, all this nonsense about fair play, decency and dignity is just so 20th century, and deeply dull. Don't you read the papers? Haven't you seen what is happening in China, India and the rest of the emerging world? We must race to be as flexible and dynamic as them by cutting back our current rules and regulations. This needs to happen now. JFDI.</p><p>Some of the language – not sure it can be called analysis – in Adrian Beecroft's original paper is startling. "A proportion of employees, secure in the knowledge that their employer will be reluctant to dismiss them, work at a level well below their true capacity: they coast along," the paper states. In common with many of the assertions made in this document, no evidence is provided to back it up. (No wonder the government is now claiming the Beecroft paper was in fact a draft, and has issued a "call for evidence".) It would be interesting to know what proportion of the workforce genuinely feels secure that they will never be fired – a small number at the moment, I expect. But even if Beecroft's claim is true, it lets another significant person off the hook: the employer. What sort of manager allows people to coast, indefinitely? A bad one.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/may/21/beecroft-discrimination-no-fault-dismissal">Continue reading...</a>Employment lawWork & careersMoneyLawDavid CameronAndy CoulsonPoliticsUK newsBeecroft reportMon, 21 May 2012 18:33:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/may/21/beecroft-discrimination-no-fault-dismissalPhotograph: David Fisher/Rex FeaturesDavid Cameron with his then director of communications, Andy Coulson. Cameron said he gave Coulson 'a second chance. The Beecroft paper offers no such leniency'. Photograph: David Fisher/Rex FeaturesPhotograph: David Fisher/Rex FeaturesDavid Cameron with his then director of communications, Andy Coulson. Cameron said he gave Coulson 'a second chance. The Beecroft paper offers no such leniency'. Photograph: David Fisher/Rex FeaturesStefan Stern2012-05-21T18:33:01Z